Cinerary urn cabinet with full view picture

ABSTRACT

A cinerary urn cabinet is provided, which displays a complete view of a picture to provide an additional function of serving as a museum of fine art to a cinerarium and thus eliminate the poor impression of being dull and gloomy and hindering a visitor from willingly entering a traditional cinerarium. The cinerary urn cabinet includes a plurality of urn storage cells arranged in both horizontal rows and vertical columns to form a continuous wall. Each cell has a front panel on which a portion of a complete view of a picture is formed, so that the front panels of the cells collectively form a wall surface of the cabinet that shows the complete view of the picture, making visitors feel as if they were staying in a museum of fine art and enjoying the master pieces of artists.

(a) TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a cinerary urn cabinet that shows a complete view of a picture, and more particularly to a cinerary urn cabinet composed of urn storage cells having front panels on each of which a portion of a picture is formed so that all the front panels, when viewed together, form a complete view of the picture to provide an additional function of serving as a museum of fine art to a cinerarium.

(b) DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

Birth and death are some of the events that each individual must go through. In ancient times, when a person died, his or her children and grandchildren must find a good place for burying the deceased. However, with the progress of human society, the high development of available land in the modern society and the government's policy often results in gradual reduction of the available area of graveyards for burying the dead and the limited area of graveyard is getting of high expense, which is often not affordable by the common people. An alternative way of handling the body of a deceased family member is to incineration and the bone ash is stored in a urn that is deposited in a cinerarium for the peace of the deceased family member and for the memory of the deceased person by the family members and friends. FIG. 1 of the attached drawings shows the arrangement of a conventional cinerarium, in which a plurality of urn cabinets 11, 12, 13 are set up and gateways are provided between adjacent urn cabinets. Each urn cabinet 11, 12, 13 is composed of a plurality of urn storage cells 14 that are arranged in horizontal rows and vertical columns to form a “wall”. Each urn storage cell 14 has a front panel 141 that openably closes a front passage of the cell. Often, a decoration, usually a religious one, is provided on the front panel 141 of a urn storage cell 14. For example, for a Buddhist, a Buddha statue 142 may be mounted to the front panel 141, and this also makes the urn cabinets more vivid and does not look monotonous and dull. After the storage cells 14 are occupied, such a conventional urn cabinet, which is often quite expensive in the construction thereof, offers no other economic values. Further, most of the worships of the ancestors are done in special occasions and the cinerarium is often empty in most of the ordinary days. All the expenses that are used to maintain the inside-cinerarium atmosphere, including air conditioning, lighting, and decoration, are of no value in those days when no visitor comes. This is simply a waste.

On the other hand, some of the sight-seeing spots of the world culture heritages are actually the graveyards of some ancient emperors and empresses, such as pyramids of Egypt, which are the graves of the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh, and terracotta warriors constitute a part of the graveyard of Qin Shi Huang. These graves of the ancient emperors and empresses are now a popular tour spots. This is simply because they are very old and magnificent constructions that have historical value and are mysterious and fascinating to general people.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Some of the graveyards in Taiwan are constructed in such a manner that makes the visitors feel artistic, magnificent, and brilliant and some even own fantastic views of mountains and oceans, looking like a fairy land, and some owners of the graveyard collect art works that are so matching the excellent natural views surrounding the graveyards, making the graveyards terrific sight-seeing spots. Such an idea of converting a graveyard into a sight-seeing spot is believed to be expandable to the interior arrangement of a cinerarium to create a new appearance for a cinerarium that is traditionally considered dull and gloomy, so that even a cinerarium can be a great tour spot.

Thus, an object of the present invention is to change the traditional impression of a cinerarium that is dull and gloomy and thus psychologically hinders a visitor from entering the cinerarium by forming a full view picture on the front panels of a number of urn storage cells that are arranged in both horizontal and vertical direction to form an urn cabinet whereby when the front panels are all closed, the picture can be completely observed on the front surface of the cabinet. A visitor that enters the cinerarium in which the cabinet is set up may feel the same way as if he were in a museum of fine art. In this way, the cinerarium also plays a role of a fine art museum and connection between a cinerarium and tourism is established.

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a cinerary urn cabinet that is composed of a number of urn storage cells arranged in horizontal rows and vertical columns and each storage cell has a front panel on which a particular portion of a picture is formed, whereby when all the panels are closed, a complete picture composed of those portions respectively formed on the front panels is displayed. Further, each storage cell comprises an inner panel that is mounted at an inner position inside the storage cell and the front panel with the portion of the picture is located outside the inner panel.

The foregoing objectives and summary provide only a brief introduction to the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects of the present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which will become apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detailed description of the invention and the claims should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specification and drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similar parts.

Many other advantages and features of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a cinerarium in which a conventional cinerary urn cabinet is set up.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an interior of a cinerarium in which a cinerary urn cabinet constructed in accordance with the present invention is arranged, a front panel of one of a number of urn storage cells constituting the cabinet being detached.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 2 but the front panels of all the urn storage cells of the cabinet being attached to the cabinet and closed.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an interior of a cinerarium in which a cinerary urn cabinet constructed in accordance with a different embodiment of the present invention is arranged, two panels of one of a number of urn storage cells constituting the cabinet being opened.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the cinerarium of said different embodiment of the present invention but the panels being both closed.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are cross-sectional views taken along line A-A of FIG. 5, illustrating the operation of opening the panels.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following descriptions are exemplary embodiments only, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the following description provides a convenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of the invention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Referring to FIG. 2, a cinerarium is shown, comprising a number of cinerary urn cabinets 11, 12, 13 set up therein. Each cinerary urn cabinet is composed of a number of urn storage cells 14A, which are closely arranged in both horizontal rows and vertical columns to form a wall. Each urn storage cell 14A has an access passage to which a front panel 141A is openably mounted. The front panel 141A has an outer surface on which a particular portion 142A of a picture is formed. All the picture portions 142A formed on the front panels 141A of all the urn storage cells 14, when put together, form a complete view of the picture. When all the front panels 141A are closed, the picture portions 142A that are formed on the outer surfaces of the front panels 141A in such a elaborately arranged manner form a complete view of the picture. Apparently, if desired, the picture can be made in a three-dimensional form. Further, the cinerary urn cabinets 11, 12, 13 are arranged to form passageway or a gateway 10 is formed between adjacent cabinets. A light projection device 50, such as a projection light, is arranged in the passageway 10, preferably on a ceiling above the passageway 10, and the light projection device 50 is controlled by a control panel (which is known and will not be further described) so that the light projection device 50 may selectively project a light beam onto a particular one of the urn storage cells 14A according to an instruction issued by the control panel, by which a visitor may easily locate the urn storage cell in which the urn of one of his or her family members or friends is received. Also referring to FIG. 3, the cinerary urn cabinets 11, 12, 13 that are located on opposite sides of the passageway 10 form beautiful pictures that make the visitor feels as if he or she were in a museum of fine art and eliminate the feeling of dullness and gloom of the conventional cinerarium.

Referring to FIGS. 4, 5, 6A and 6B, another embodiment of the present invention is shown, wherein each urn storage cell 14A is provided with two panels 141B, 141C, including a first, front panel 141B that is pivotally mounted to a side wall of the urn storage cell 14A at an inner position and a second, inner panel 141 that is pivotally mounted to an opposite side wall of the urn storage cell 14A at an outer position. The first panel 141B and the second panel 142C can open and/or close the urn storage cell 14A. The two panels 141B, 141C are opened in sequence wherein the first panel 141B that is located at an outer side is opened first and then the second panel 141C that is located at an inner side is opened. After for example a cinerary urn is put into the urn storage cell 14A, the panels 141B, 141C are closed, wherein the second panel 141C that is located at the inner side is closed first and then the first panel 141B that is located at the outer side is closed. When both the first panel 141E and the second panel 141B are closed, the second panel 141C is located at an inner side of the urn storage cell 141A, while the first panel 141B is located at an outer side of the urn storage cell 141A. When the first panel 141B of each urn storage cell 14A is closed, the first panels 141B of all the urn storage cells 14A constitute a large area flat surface. All the first panels 141B are provided with portions 142A of a picture so that when all the first panels 141B are closed, a complete view of the picture is shown on the front surface of the cinerary urn cabinet 11, 12, 13 (as shown in FIG. 4), making a visitor feel as if he or she were staying in a museum of fine art.

To summarize, the present invention provide a cinerary urn cabinet that is composed of a number of urn storage cells arranged in horizontal rows and vertical columns and comprising front panels on which portions of a picture are elaborately arranged, whereby when the front panels are closed, a complete view of the picture is shown. This provides an additional function to a cinerarium to serve also as a museum of fine art, so that the cinerarium may become a sight-seeing spot for tourism.

While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention. 

1. A cinerary urn cabinet comprising a plurality of urn storage cells arranged in horizontal rows and vertical lines to form a continuous wall, each urn storage cell comprising a front panel on which a portion of a picture is formed such that the picture portions formed on the front panels form a complete view of the picture.
 2. The cinerary urn cabinet according to claim 1, wherein each of the urn storage cells comprises an inner panel that is set at an internal location inside the urn storage cell and wherein the front panel on which the picture portion is formed is located outside the inner panel.
 3. The cinerary urn cabinet according to claim 1, wherein the picture portion formed on each of the front panels of the urn storage cells comprises a three-dimensional configuration.
 4. The cinerary urn cabinet according to claim 2, wherein the picture portion formed on each of the outside front panels of the urn storage cells comprises a three-dimensional configuration.
 5. The cinerary urn cabinet according to claim 1 further comprising a light projection device that is controlled by a control panel whereby the light projection device projects a light beam to the front panel of one of the urn storage cells according to an instruction received from the control panel.
 6. The cinerary urn cabinet according to claim 3 further comprising a light projection device that is controlled by a control panel whereby the light projection device projects a light beam to the front panel of one of the urn storage cells according to an instruction received from the control panel.
 7. The cinerary urn cabinet according to claim 2 further comprising a light projection device that is controlled by a control panel whereby the light projection device projects a light beam to the outside front panel of one of the urn storage cells according to an instruction received from the control panel.
 8. The cinerary urn cabinet according to claim 4 further comprising a light projection device that is controlled by a control panel whereby the light projection device projects a light beam to the outside front panel of one of the urn storage cells according to an instruction received from the control panel. 